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INFO-DIR-SECTION The Algorithmic Language Scheme
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Guile Tutorial: (guile-tut).  The Guile tutorial.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY


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Guile Tutorial
**************

  This file gives a tutorial introduction to Guile.

  Copyright (C) 1997, 2004, 2006 Free Software Foundation

  Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

  Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this
manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the
entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.

  Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a
translation approved by the author.

* Menu:

* Jump Start::
* Introduction::
* Using Guile to program in Scheme::
* Guile in a Library::
* Regular Expression Support::
* UNIX System Programming::
* Where to find more Guile/Scheme resources::
* Concept Index::
* Procedure and Macro Index::
* Variable Index::
* Type Index::


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Jump Start,  Next: Introduction,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

1 Jump Start
************

Before giving an overview of Guile, I present some simple commands and
programs that you can type to get going immediately.

  Start by invoking the Guile interpreter.  Usually you do this by just
typing `guile'.  Then type (or paste) the following expressions at the
prompt; the interpreter's response is preceded (in this manual) by =>.

     <shell-prompt> guile

     (+ 20 35)
     => 55
     (define (recursive-factorial n)
       (if (zero? n)
           1
           (* n (recursive-factorial (- n 1)))))
     (recursive-factorial 5)
     => 120
     (quit)

  In this example we did some simple arithmetic `(+ 20 35)' and got the
answer `55'.  Then we coded the classic (and rather wasteful) factorial
algorithm and computed the factorial of `55'.  Finally we quit with
`(quit)'.

  We can find out about some of Scheme's nice features by asking for the
factorial of some big number, say `500'.  On some systems the correct
answer will be returned (I do not indicate calling and leaving the
guile session anymore).

     (recursive-factorial 500)
     => 1220136825991110068701238785423046926253574342803192842192413588
        3858453731538819976054964475022032818630136164771482035841633787
        2207817720048078520515932928547790757193933060377296085908627042
        9174547882424912726344305670173270769461062802310452644218878789
        4657547771498634943677810376442740338273653974713864778784954384
        8959553753799042324106127132698432774571554630997720278101456108
        1188373709531016356324432987029563896628911658974769572087926928
        8712817800702651745077684107196243903943225364226052349458501299
        1857150124870696156814162535905669342381300885624924689156412677
        5654481886506593847951775360894005745238940335798476363944905313
        0623237490664450488246650759467358620746379251842004593696929810
        2226397195259719094521782333175693458150855233282076282002340262
        6907898342451712006207714640979456116127629145951237229913340169
        5523638509428855920187274337951730145863575708283557801587354327
        6888868012039988238470215146760544540766353598417443048012893831
        3896881639487469658817504506926365338175055478128640000000000000
        0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
        00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

  The result is an example of Scheme's _bignumbers_.  However, there
are operating environments that provide (by default) too little stack
space.  They will instead produce an error message like this:

     (recursive-factorial 500)
     -|
     ERROR: Stack overflow
     ABORT: (stack-overflow)

  Rather than enlarging the system's stack, we can implement the
algorithm such that it does not consume increasing stack space.  This
is called a _tail recursive_ implementation.  The following definition
is tail recursive and so should work on all systems.

     (define (tail-recursive-factorial n)
       (define (loop k l)
         (if (zero? k) l
     	(loop (- k 1) (* k l))))
       (loop n 1))

     (tail-recursive-factorial 500)
     => 1220136825991110068701238785423046926253574342803192842192413588
             ;; ... skipped

  This is the most basic use of Guile: a simple Scheme interpreter.  In
the rest of this tutorial I will show you how Guile has many facets: it
is also an _extensible_ interpreter (to which many features can be
easilly added) and an _embeddable_ interpreter (which can be invoked
from your C programs).


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Introduction,  Next: Using Guile to program in Scheme,  Prev: Jump Start,  Up: Top

2 Introduction
**************

"Guile" (which can stand for _GNU Ubiquitous Intelligent Language
Extension_) is the GNU extension language.  It started out as an
embeddable Scheme interpreter, and has rapidly evolved into a
kitchen-sink package including a standalone Scheme interpreter, an
embeddable Scheme interpreter, several graphics options, other languages
that can be used along with Scheme (for now just _ctax_ and _Tcl_), and
hooks for much more.

* Menu:

* What are scripting and extension languages::
* History of Guile and its motivations::
* How to characterize Guile::


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: What are scripting and extension languages,  Next: History of Guile and its motivations,  Up: Introduction

2.1 What are scripting and extension languages
==============================================

A "scripting language" is a programming language which serves as glue
between other system programs.  In the UNIX world, the traditional
scripting language is the _Bourne shell_, which allows many UNIX
commands to be executed in sequence, or in a pipeline.  Traditional UNIX
commands are cleverly written to work well when put together in a
script.

  Other examples of UNIX scripting languages are AWK, Perl, Scsh (the
Scheme Shell: a Scheme interpreter enhanced to do good scripting),
Python, Tcl, Java ...  

  UNIX programmers noticed, more than 25 years ago, that scripting
languages can do serious work, so the Bourne shell was written to have
variables, operators and control structures, just like a full-featured
programming language.  

  What scripting languages have, that traditional programming languages
do not, is the ability to easily run an external program (or a pipeline
of external programs) and use the returned values and output from that
program in useful ways.

  An "extension language" is a programming language interpreter offered
by an application program, so that users can write macros or even
full-fledged programs to extend the original application.  Extension
languages have a C interface (it is usually C, but it could be any
other compiled language), and can be given access to the C data
structures.  Likewise, there are C routines to access the extension
language data structures.

  Extension languages abound in the software world, even though the name
_extension language_ is seldom used.  Examples are: 

   * Emacs Lisp, the language used to program and customize GNU Emacs.  

   * Tcl, John Ousterhout's general-purpose scripting and extension
     language.  

   * The Lotus 1-2-3 macro language (any spreadsheet macro language,
     really).  I mention this one first because it is a classic, even
     though it is seldom used any more.  

   * Other spreadsheet and database macro languages.

   * The Dominion empire-style game's _exec_ files.  

   * Any syntax for a ".*rc" file you might have used.  Almost all
     programs end up parsing some kind of startup or configuration
     file.  The syntax for those can get pretty involved, thus
     justifying calling them "extension languages".  The _fvwm_ window
     manager, for example, parses a rather elaborate `.fvwmrc' file.

   * Brent Benson's libscheme.a, an embeddable Scheme interpreter.  

   * Guile, the GNU extension language, which is the subject of this
     tutorial.


  One lesson we can learn from looking at classical large software
applications is that "writers of large programs" always end up throwing
in some kind of parser for configuration or scripting.

  Of the examples listed above, Emacs Lisp, Tcl, Libscheme and Guile
have an important property: they are not added as an afterthought for a
specific application.  They are general-purpose languages which a user
can learn (even in college courses) and then use to customize the
application program.

  This is a recent and (in my opinion) very exciting direction in
large-program software engineering: program designers can link in the
Guile or Tcl library from the very beginning, and tell their users "You
want to customize this program?  Just use Scheme (or Tcl, or whatever
language), which you already know!"  


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: History of Guile and its motivations,  Next: How to characterize Guile,  Prev: What are scripting and extension languages,  Up: Introduction

2.2 History of Guile and its motivations
========================================

A few separate threads of events led to the development of Guile.

  In the fall of 1994, Richard Stallman, director of the GNU project,
posted an article with the subject "Why you should not use Tcl", in
which he argued that Tcl is inadequate as an extension language.  This
generated a flurry of flames (available in the hypermail archive
(`http://www.vanderburg.org/Tcl/war/') *The Tcl War*).  

  The result was that Stallman then proposed his design for the GNU
Extension Language, first called GEL and then renamed Guile.  The
discussion triggered by that article is also available in a hypermail
archive, `http://www.vanderburg.org/Tcl/war2/'.

  One interesting feature of this GNU Extension Language plan was that
users should have a _choice_ of languages to use in extending their
program.  The basic language would be a slightly modified Scheme, and
translators would be written to convert other languages (like Tcl,
Python, Perl, C-like languages ...) into Scheme.

  Tom Lord started working on this project immediately, taking Aubrey
Jaffer's small and portable implementation of Scheme, SCM, and making it
into an embeddable interpreter: callable from C and allowing new Scheme
procedures to be written in C.  

  In the spring of 1995, the guile-ii snapshot was released.  This made
it possible to start writing code in C and Scheme using the guile
facilities.

  The guile-iii snapshot was released the summer of 1995, and it had
fixed enough problems so that the access to Scheme data structures from
C was almost complete.

  After this, Cygnus Support added many features to Guile and finished
implementing others, so that Guile acquired thread support, a regular
expression matcher, a Tk interface, an interface to the SGI OpenGL
graphics system, an _applet_ formalism, and some other packages.  This
was all in the Cygnus Guile r0.3 and r0.4 releases.  

  Meanwhile, Tom Lord left the project after having produced a divergent
version of Guile: 1.0b2.  The Free Software Foundation hired Jim Blandy
to coordinate Guile development.  The FSF released its first version of
Guile in January 1997.  In the future, many of the Cygnus packages will
be re-integrated into Guile.  


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: How to characterize Guile,  Prev: History of Guile and its motivations,  Up: Introduction

2.3 How to characterize Guile
=============================

I have already mentioned that Guile has become a kitchen sink package;
here you can see how Guile freely takes new commands and constructs from
the portable Scheme library _slib_, the _Tk_ widget set, a posix
library (useful for UNIX systems programming), the regular expression
library _rx_, and many more ...  

  So Guile has many more primitive procedures available to it than those
specified in *Note Revised(5) Report on the Algorithmic Language
Scheme: (r5rs)Standard Procedures.  On top of that, Guile will interpret
almost all standard Scheme programs.  The only incompatible difference
between the basic Guile language and R5RS Scheme is that Guile is case
sensitive, whereas R5RS is case insensitive.  We hope that few people
have written Scheme programs that depend on case insensitivity.  

  Here is a possible view of the _sum of the parts_ in Guile: 
     guile   =       standard Scheme (R5RS)
             PLUS    extensions to R5RS offered by SCM
             PLUS    some extra primitives offered by Guile (catch/throw)
             PLUS    portable Scheme library (SLIB)
             PLUS    embeddable Scheme interpreter library (libguile)
             PLUS    Tk toolkit
             PLUS    threads
             PLUS    Posix library
             PLUS    Regular expression library (rx)
             PLUS    Tcl library


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Using Guile to program in Scheme,  Next: Guile in a Library,  Prev: Introduction,  Up: Top

3 Using Guile to program in Scheme
**********************************

In this section I give a tutorial introduction to programming in Scheme,
with a slant toward the interesting things that can be done in Guile.

  This section will try to touch on many of the interesting and cool
aspects of Guile, showing you how new types of problems can be solved
with Guile.  Note that using Guile as a library with `libguile.a' is
described in its own chapter (*note Guile in a Library::).  Also note
that some small examples are given in *Note Jump Start::.

  To get started you need to know how to program in "Scheme" (a dialect
of LISP).  Fortunately Scheme is a small, clean language and is not
hard to learn.  It is also used in many undergraduate courses to
introduce computer programming.  

  I will not try to teach you Scheme here (although you might end up
learning by example), since there are many good books on the subject,
listed in *Note Where to find more Guile/Scheme resources::. (1)

3.0.1 Hello World
-----------------

Our first program is the typical Scheme "hello world" program.  Put the
following code in a file called `hello.scm' (this can be find in
`examples/scheme/hello.scm').

     #!/usr/local/bin/guile -s
     !#

     (display "hello world")
     (newline)

  Then run guile on it.  One way to do so is to start up guile and load
this file:

     <shell-prompt> guile
     guile> (load "hello")

  Another way is to make the file executable and execute it directly.
Notice how Guile recognizes a `-s' option which tells it to run a
script and then exit.  Guile also has a new type of block comment
enclosed by `#!' and `!#', so that you can make executable Scheme
scripts with the standard UNIX `#!' mechanism.

  In the given example, the first line is used to invoke the Guile
interpreter (make sure you correct the path if you installed Guile in
something other than /usr/local/bin).  Once Guile is invoked on this
file, it will understand that the first line is a comment.  The comment
is then terminated with `!#' on the second line so as to not interfere
with the execution mechanism.

3.0.2 A bunch of operations in Scheme
-------------------------------------

Here is some code you can type at the `guile>' prompt to see some of
the Scheme data types at work (mostly lists and vectors).  I have
inserted brief comments _before_ each line of code explaining what
happens.

     ;; make a list and bind it to the symbol `ls'
     guile> (define ls (list 1 2 3 4 5 6 7))
            =>
     ;; display the list
     guile> ls
            => (1 2 3 4 5 6 7)
     ;; ask if `ls' is a vector; `#f' means it is not
     guile> (vector? ls)
            => #f
     ;; ask if `ls' is a list; `#t' means it is
     guile> (list? ls)
            => #t
     ;; ask for the length of `ls'
     guile> (length ls)
            => 7
     ;; pick out the first element of the list
     guile> (car ls)
            => 1
     ;; pick the rest of the list without the first element
     guile> (cdr ls)
            => (2 3 4 5 6 7)
     ;; this should pick out the 3rd element of the list
     guile> (car (cdr (cdr ls)))
            => 3
     ;; a shorthand for doing the same thing
     guile> (caddr ls)
            => 3
     ;; append the given list onto `ls', print the result
     ;; *NOTE_* the original list `ls' is _not_ modified
     guile> (append ls (list 8 9 10))
            => (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10)
     guile> (reverse ls)
            => (7 6 5 4 3 2 1)
     ;; ask if 12 is in the list -- it obviously is not
     guile> (memq 12 ls)
            => #f
     ;; ask if 4 is in the list -- returns the list from 4 on.
     ;; Notice that the result will behave as true in conditionals
     guile> (memq 4 ls)
            => (4 5 6 7)
     ;; an `if' statement using the aforementioned result
     guile> (if (memq 4 ls)
                (display "hey, it's true!\n")
                (display "dude, it's false\n"))
            hey, it's true!-|
            =>
     guile> (if (memq 12 ls)
                (display "hey, it's true!\n")
                (display "dude, it's false\n"))
            dude, it's false-|
            =>
     guile> (memq 4 (reverse ls))
            => (4 3 2 1)
     ;; make a smaller list `ls2' to work with
     guile> (define ls2 (list 2 3 4))
     ;; make a list in which the function `sin' has been
     ;; applied to all elements of `ls2'
     guile> (map sin ls2)
            => (0.909297426825682 0.141120008059867 -0.756802495307928)
     ;; make a list in which the squaring function has been
     ;; applied to all elements of `ls'
     guile> (map (lambda (n) (* n n)) ls)
            => (1 4 9 16 25 36 49)

     ;; make a vector and bind it to the symbol `v'
     guile> (define v '#(1 2 3 4 5 6 7))
     guile> v
            => #(1 2 3 4 5 6 7)
     guile> (vector? v)
            => #t
     guile> (list? v)
            => #f
     guile> (vector-length v)
            => 7
     ;; vector-ref allows you to pick out elements by index
     guile> (vector-ref v 2)
            => 3
     ;; play around with the vector: make it into a list, reverse
     ;; the list, go back to a vector and take the second element
     guile> (vector-ref (list->vector (reverse (vector->list v))) 2)
            => 5
     ;; this demonstrates that the entries in a vector do not have
     ;; to be of uniform type
     guile> (vector-set! v 4 "hi there")
            => "hi there"
     guile> v
            => #(1 2 3 4 "hi there" 6 7)

3.0.3 Using recursion to process lists
--------------------------------------

Here are some typical examples of using recursion to process a list.

     ;; this is a rather trivial way of reversing a list
     (define (my-reverse l)
       (if (null? l)
           l
           (append (my-reverse (cdr l)) (list (car l)))))
     (my-reverse '(27 32 33 40))
     => (40 33 32 27)

3.0.4 Processing matrices
-------------------------

Suppose you have a matrix represented as a list of lists:

     (define m
       (list
        (list 7 2 1 3 2 8 5 3 6)
        (list 4 1 1 1 3 8 9 8 1)
        (list 5 5 4 8 1 8 2 2 4)))

  Then you could apply a certain function to each element of the matrix
in the following manner:
     ;; apply the function func to the matrix m element-by-element;
     ;; return a matrix with the result.
     (define (process-matrix m func)
       (map (lambda (l)
              (map func l))
            m))
  Notice that I have used the Scheme `map' procedure because I am
interested in the matrix that results from the application of `func',
rather than in the side effects associated with applying `func'.

  This could be invoked with `(process-matrix m sin)' or
`(process-matrix m (lambda (x) (* x x)))'; for example:

     (process-matrix m (lambda (x) (* x x)))
     => ((49 4 1 9 4 64 25 9 36) (16 1 1 1 9 64 81 64 1) (25 25 16 64 1 64 4 4 16))

  To print a representation of the matrix, we could define a generalized
routine:
     ;; proc is a procedure to represent the single element,
     ;; row-proc is a procedure that is invoked after each row.
     ;; Example: proc could be (lambda (x) (begin (display x) (display " ")))
     ;; and row-proc could be (lambda (l) (display "\n"))
     (define (represent-matrix m proc row-proc)
       (for-each (lambda (l)
                   (begin
                     (for-each proc l)
                     (row-proc l)))
                 m))
  
  And then invoke it with
     (represent-matrix m
                       (lambda (x) (begin (display x) (display " ")))
                       (lambda (l) (begin (display "\n"))))
     7 2 1 3 2 8 5 3 6-|
     4 1 1 1 3 8 9 8 1-|
     5 5 4 8 1 8 2 2 4-|

  Now we write a helper routine that uses Scheme "closures" to make
objects with state that then receive messages to draw little squares.  

  But let us take it one step at a time.  I will start by showing you a
simple example of object in Scheme.  The object I make here represents a
cell, which could be a cell in a matrix.  The cell responds to commands
to draw itself, to return the next cell, and so forth.  _Guile does not
currently have a Tk interface, so I will leave the hooks for graphical
rendering.  In a future release of Guile I will add graphical rendering
messages to the cell object._

     ;; cell-object.scm: routines for creating and manipulating cell objects

     ;; (the-x, the-y) is the initial position of the cell.
     ;; the-color is a string representing a color; must be something Tk can grok.
     ;; square-size is the size of the square that gets drawn.
     ;; (sizex, sizey) is the size of the matrix.
     (define (MAKE-CELL the-x the-y the-color square-size sizex sizey)
       (define (get-x) the-x)
       (define (get-y) the-y)

       (define (set-x! new-x)
         (set! the-x new-x)
         the-x)
       (define (set-y! new-y)
         (set! the-y new-y)
         the-y)
       (define (get-color) the-color)
       (define (set-color! new-color)
         (set! the-color new-color)
         the-color)
       (define (next!)
         (set! the-x (+ the-x 1))
         (if (>= the-x sizex)
     	(begin
     	  (set! the-x 0)
     	  (set! the-y (+ the-y 1))))
     	(if (>= the-y sizey)
     	    (begin
     	      (display "CELL next!: value of y is too big; not changing it\n")
     	      (set! the-y (- the-y 1))))
     	(cons the-x the-y))
       (define (draw)
         (let* ((x0 (* the-x square-size))
     	   (y0 (* the-y square-size))
     	   (x1 (+ x0 square-size))
     	   (y1 (+ y0 square-size)))
           (display "I should draw a ")
           (display the-color)
           (display " rectangle with corners at ")
           (display x0) (display y0) (display x1) (display y1)
           ))

       ;; self is the dispatch procedure
       (define (self message)
         (case message
           ((x)            get-x)
           ((y)            get-y)
           ((set-x!)       set-x!)
           ((set-y!)       set-y!)
           ((color)        get-color)
           ((set-color!)   set-color!)
           ((next!)        next!)
           ((draw)         draw)
           (else (error "CELL: Unknown message -> " message))))
       ;; and now return the dispatch procedure
       self
       )
  
  What does this procedure do?  It returns another procedure (`self')
which receives a message (x, y, set-x!, set-y!, ...)  and takes an
action to return or modify its state.  The state consists of the values
of variables `the-x', `the-y', `the-color' and so forth.

  Here are some examples of how to use MAKE-CELL and the cell object it
creates:
     (define c (MAKE-CELL 0 0 "red" 10 7 9))

     ;; retrieve the x and y coordinates
     ((c 'x))
     => 0
     ((c 'y))
     => 0
     ;; change the x coordinate
     ((c 'set-x!) 5)
     => 5
     ((c 'x))
     => 5
     ;; change the color
     ((c 'color))
     => "red"
     ((c 'set-color!) "green")
     => "green"
     ((c 'color))
     => "green"
     ;; now use the next! message to move to the next cell
     ((c 'next!))
     => (6 . 0)
     ((c 'x))
     => 6
     ((c 'y))
     => 0
     ;; now make things wrap around
     ((c 'next!))
     => (0 . 1)
     ((c 'next!))
     => (1 . 1)
     ((c 'next!))
     => (2 . 1)
     ((c 'x))
     => 2
     ((c 'y))
     => 1

  You will notice that expressions like `(c 'next)' return procedures
that do the job, so we have to use extra parentheses to make the job
happen.  This syntax is rather awkward; one way around it is to define a
`send' procedure:

     ;; send makes object syntax a bit easier; instead of saying
     ;;     ((my-cell 'set-x!) 4)
     ;; you can say
     ;;     (send my-cell 'set-x! 4)
     (define (send obj . args)
       (let ((first-eval (apply obj (list (car args)))))
         (if (null? (cdr args))
     	(first-eval)
     	(apply first-eval (cdr args)))))
  
  You can see that `send' passes the message to the object, making sure
that things are evaluated the proper number of times.  You can now type:

     (define c2 (MAKE-CELL 0 0 "red" 10 7 9))
     (send c2 'x)
     => 0
     (send c2 'set-x! 5)
     => 5
     (send c2 'color)
     => "red"
     (send c2 'set-color! "green")
     => "green"
     (send c2 'next!)
     => (1 . 0)
     (send c2 'x)
     => 1
     (send c2 'y)
     => 0

  This is the simplest way of implementing objects in Scheme, but it
does not really allow for full _object-oriented programming_ (for
example, there is no inheritance).  But it is useful for _object-based
programming_.

  Guile comes with a couple more complete object-oriented extensions to
Scheme: these are part of slib (*note Object: (slib)Object. and *note
Yasos: (slib)Yasos.).

  ---------- Footnotes ----------

  (1) To get started, look at the books `Simply Scheme' and `The Little
Schemer' from that list.


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Guile in a Library,  Next: Regular Expression Support,  Prev: Using Guile to program in Scheme,  Up: Top

4 Guile in a Library
********************

In the previous chapters Guile was used to write programs entirely in
Scheme, and no C code was seen; but I have been claiming _ad nauseam_
that Guile is an _extension_ language.  Here we see how that is done,
and how that can be useful.  

* Menu:

* Two world views::
* What is libguile::
* How to get started with libguile::
* More interesting programming with libguile::
* Further examples::


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Two world views,  Next: What is libguile,  Up: Guile in a Library

4.1 Two world views
===================

In this manual, I usually jump into examples and explain them as you
type in the code; here I will digress and ramble for a few paragraphs to
set some concepts straight, and then let you type (or paste) in fun
examples.

  In 1995, I implemented a large program, "Gnudl", using Guile quite
extensively.  In the design phase of Gnudl, I found I had to make a
choice: should the fundamental data structures be C or Scheme data
structures?  

  Guile allows C to see its data structures (scalar types, lists,
vectors, strings ...).  C also allows Guile to see its data structures.
As a large program designer, you have to decide which of those
capabilities to use.  You have two main choices:

  1. You can write your software mostly in Scheme.  In this case, your C
     software will mostly parse the Scheme code with Guile calls, and
     provide some new primitive procedures to be used by Scheme.  This
     is what Gnudl does.

  2. You can write your software mostly in C, occasionally allowing
     Scheme code to be parsed by Guile, either to allow the user to
     modify data structures, or to parse a configuration file, ...

  Mixing the two approaches seems unwise: the overall layout would be
confusing.  But who knows?  There might be problems that are best solved
by a hybrid approach.  Please let me know if you think of such a
problem.

  If you use the former approach, we will say that the "master world"
is Scheme, and the C routines serve Scheme and access Scheme data
structures.  In the latter case, the master world is C, and Scheme
routines serve the C code and access C data structures.

  In both approaches the `libguile.a' library is the same, but a
predominantly different set of routines will be used.  When we go
through examples of libguile use, we will point out which is the master
world in order to clarify these two approaches.


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: What is libguile,  Next: How to get started with libguile,  Prev: Two world views,  Up: Guile in a Library

4.2 What is libguile
====================

"Libguile" is the library which allows C programs to start a Scheme
interpreter and execute Scheme code.  There are also facilities in
libguile to make C data structures available to Scheme, and vice versa.

  The interface provided by the libguile C library is somewhat specific
to the implementation of the Scheme interpreter.  This low-level
libguile interface is usually referred to as the `scm_' interface,
since its public calls (API) all have the `scm_' prefix.

  There is also a higher-level libguile interface, which is usually
referred to as the `gh_' interface (libGuile High).  Its public calls
all have the `gh_' prefix.  The `gh_' library interface is designed to
hide the implementation details, thus making it easier to assimilate
and portable to other underlying Scheme implementations.

  People extending Guile by adding bindings to C libraries (like OpenGL
or Rx) are encouraged to use the `gh_' interface, so their work will be
portable to other Scheme systems.  The `gh_' interface should be more
stable, because it is simpler.

  The `scm_' interface is necessary if you want to poke into the
innards of Scheme data structures, or do anything else that is not
offered by the `gh_' interface.  It is not covered in this tutorial,
but is covered extensively in *Note Data Representation in Guile:
(guile)Data representation.

  This chapter gives a gentle introduction to the `gh_' interface,
presenting some _hello world_-style programs which I wrote while
teaching myself to use libguile.  

  The `Guile Programmer's Manual' gives more examples of programs
written using libguile, illustrating diverse applications.  You can also
consult my _Gnudl_ documentation at
`http://nis-www.lanl.gov/~rosalia/mydocs/' to see a large scale project
that uses C and Scheme code together.


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: How to get started with libguile,  Next: More interesting programming with libguile,  Prev: What is libguile,  Up: Guile in a Library

4.3 How to get started with libguile
====================================

Here is an elementary first program, `learn0', to get going with
libguile.  The program (which uses Scheme as a master world) is in a
single source file, `learn0.c':

     /* test the new libgh.a (Guile High-level library) with a trivial
        program */

     #include <stdio.h>

     #include <guile/gh.h>

     void main_prog(int argc, char *argv[]);

     main(int argc, char *argv[])
     {
       gh_enter(argc, argv, main_prog);
     }

     void main_prog(int argc, char *argv[])
     {
       int done;
       char input_str[200];

       gh_eval_str("(display \"hello Guile\")");
       gh_eval_str("(newline)");

       /* for fun, evaluate some simple Scheme expressions here */
       gh_eval_str("(define (square x) (* x x))");
       gh_eval_str("(define (fact n) (if (= n 1) 1 (* n (fact (- n 1)))))");
       gh_eval_str("(square 9)");

       /* now sit in a Scheme eval loop: I input the expressions, have
          Guile evaluate them, and then get another expression. */
       done = 0;
       fputs("learn0> ", stdout);
       while (fgets(input_str, 199, stdin) != NULL) {
         gh_eval_str(input_str);
         fputs("\nlearn0> ", stdout);
       }

       exit(0);
     }

  If you name this program `learn0.c', it can now be compiled with:
     gcc -g -c learn0.c -o learn0.o
     gcc -o learn0 learn0.o -lguile -lm

  The program is simple: it creates a Scheme interpreter, passes a
couple of strings to it that define new Scheme functions `square' and
`factorial', and then a couple of strings that invoke those functions.

  It then goes into a read-eval-print-loop (REPL), so you could type
one-line Scheme expressions to it and have them evaluated.  For example:
     <shell-prompt> ./learn0
     hello Guile
     learn0> (display (sin 1.3))
     963.558185417193e-3
     learn0> (display (fact 10))
     3628800
     learn0> (quit)
     <shell-prompt>

  You should notice the key steps involved in this `learn0' program:

  1. `#include <guile/gh.h>'

  2. You need to invoke the initialization routine `gh_enter()'.  This
     starts up a Scheme interpreter, handling many
     implementation-specific details.

  3. Your main() function should be almost empty: the real main program
     goes in a separate function main_prog() which is passed to
     gh_enter().  This rather arcane convention is due to the way
     Guile's garbage collector works: the whole program has to run in
     the dynamic context of `gh_enter()'.

  4. You pass strings to the Scheme interpreter with the `gh_eval_str()'
     routine.

  5. You link your program with `-lguile'.


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: More interesting programming with libguile,  Next: Further examples,  Prev: How to get started with libguile,  Up: Guile in a Library

4.4 More interesting programming with libguile
==============================================

The `learn0' program shows how you can invoke Scheme commands from a C
program.  This is not such a great achievement: the same could have
been done by opening a pipe to SCM or any other Scheme interpreter.

  A true extension language must allow "callbacks".  Callbacks allow
you to write C routines that can be invoked as Scheme procedures, thus
adding new primitive procedures to Scheme.  This also means that a
Scheme procedure can modify a C data structure.

  Guile allows you to define new Scheme procedures in C, and provides a
mechanism to go back and forth between C and Scheme data types.

  Here is a second program, `learn1', which demonstrates these
features.  It is split into three source files: `learn1.c',
`c_builtins.h' and `c_builtins.c'.  I am including the code here.

  Notice that `learn1' uses a Scheme master world, and the C routines
in `c_builtins.c' are simply adding new primitives to Scheme.

* Menu:

* learn1.c::
* c_builtins.h::
* c_builtins.c::
* What learn1 is doing::
* Compiling and running learn1::


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: learn1.c,  Next: c_builtins.h,  Up: More interesting programming with libguile

4.4.1 learn1.c
--------------

Here is `learn1.c':
     #include <stdio.h>

     #include <guile/gh.h>

     #include "c_builtins.h"

     void main_prog(int argc, char *argv[]);

     main(int argc, char *argv[])
     {
       gh_enter(argc, argv, main_prog);
     }

     void main_prog(int argc, char *argv[])
     {
       char input_str[200];		/* ugly hack: assume strlen(line) < 200 */
       int done;

       /* for fun, evaluate some simple Scheme expressions here */
       gh_eval_str("(define (square x) (* x x))");
       gh_eval_str("(define (fact n) (if (= n 1) 1 (* n (fact (- n 1)))))");
       gh_eval_str("(square 9)");
       gh_eval_str("(fact 100)");

       /* now try to define some new builtins, coded in C, so that they are
          available in Scheme. */
       gh_new_procedure1_0("c-factorial", c_factorial);
       gh_new_procedure1_0("c-sin", c_sin);
       gh_new_procedure1_0("v-t", vector_test);

       /* now sit in a Scheme eval loop: I input the expressions, have
          Guile evaluate them, and then get another expression.  */
       done = 0;
       fputs("learn1> ", stdout);
       while (!done) {
         if (gets(input_str) == NULL) {
           done = 1;
         } else {
           gh_eval_str(input_str);
           fputs("learn1> ", stdout);
         }
       }

       exit(0);
     }


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: c_builtins.h,  Next: c_builtins.c,  Prev: learn1.c,  Up: More interesting programming with libguile

4.4.2 c_builtins.h
------------------

Here is `c_builtins.h':
     /* builtin function prototypes */

     #include <guile/gh.h>

     SCM c_factorial(SCM n);
     SCM c_sin(SCM n);
     SCM vector_test(SCM s_length);


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: c_builtins.c,  Next: What learn1 is doing,  Prev: c_builtins.h,  Up: More interesting programming with libguile

4.4.3 c_builtins.c
------------------

Here is `c_builtins.c':
     #include <stdio.h>
     #include <math.h>

     #include <guile/gh.h>

     #include "c_builtins.h"

     /* this is a factorial routine in C, made to be callable by Scheme */
     SCM c_factorial(SCM s_n)
     {
       int i;
       unsigned long result = 1, n;

       n = gh_scm2ulong(s_n);

       gh_defer_ints();
       for (i = 1; i <= n; ++i) {
         result = result*i;
       }
       gh_allow_ints();
       return gh_ulong2scm(result);
     }

     /* a sin routine in C, callable from Scheme.  it is named c_sin() to
        distinguish it from the default Scheme sin function */
     SCM c_sin(SCM s_x)
     {
       double x = gh_scm2double(s_x);

       return gh_double2scm(sin(x));
     }

     /* play around with vectors in Guile: this routine creates a vector of
        the given length, initializes it all to zero except element 2 which
        is set to 1.9.  */
     SCM vector_test(SCM s_length)
     {
       SCM xvec;

       c_length = gh_scm2ulong(s_length);
       printf("requested length for vector: %ld\n", gh_scm2ulong(s_length));

       /* create a vector */
       xvec = gh_make_vector(s_length, gh_double2scm(0.0));
       /* set the second element in it */
       gh_vector_set_x(xvec, gh_int2scm(2), gh_double2scm(1.9));

       return xvec;
     }


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: What learn1 is doing,  Next: Compiling and running learn1,  Prev: c_builtins.c,  Up: More interesting programming with libguile

4.4.4 What learn1 is doing
--------------------------

If you compare learn1 to learn0, you will find that learn1 uses a new
Guile construct: the function `gh_new_procedure()', and its siblings:

       /* now try to define some new builtins, coded in C, so that they are
          available in Scheme. */
       gh_new_procedure1_0("c-factorial", c_factorial);
       gh_new_procedure1_0("c-sin", c_sin);
       gh_new_procedure1_0("v-t", vector_test);

  It is clear that `gh_new_procedure()' adds a new builtin routine
written in C which can be invoked from Scheme.  We can now revise our
checklist for programming with libguile, so it includes adding
callbacks.  

  1. `#include <guile/gh.h>'

  2. You need to invoke the initialization routine `gh_enter()'.  This
     starts up a Scheme interpreter, handling many details.

  3. Your main() function should be almost empty: the real main program
     goes in a separate function main_prog() which is passed to
     gh_enter().  This rather arcane convention is due to the way
     Guile's garbage collector works: the whole program has to run in
     the dynamic context of `gh_enter()'.

  4. You pass strings to the Scheme interpreter with the `gh_eval_str()'
     routine.

  5. *[new]* You can now define new builtin Scheme functions; i.e.
     define new builtin Scheme functions, with the `gh_new_procedure()'
     routine.

  6. You pass strings to the Scheme interpreter with the
     `gh_eval_str()' routine.

  7. You link your program with `-lguile'.

  I breezed by the issue of how to write your C routines that are
registered to be called from Scheme.  This is non-trivial, and is
discussed at length in the `Guile Programmer's Manual'.


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Compiling and running learn1,  Prev: What learn1 is doing,  Up: More interesting programming with libguile

4.4.5 Compiling and running learn1
----------------------------------

     gcc -g -c learn1.c -o learn1.o
     gcc -g -c c_builtins.c -o c_builtins.o
     gcc -o learn1 learn1.o c_builtins.o -lguile -lm

  If you run `learn1', it will prompt you for a one-line Scheme
expression, just as `learn0' did.  The difference is that you can use
the new C builtin procedures (`c-factorial', `c-sin', `v-t').

     <shell-prompt> ./learn1
     welcome to Guile
     hello Guile
     learn1> (display (c-factorial 6))
     720
     learn1> (display (c-factorial 20))
     2192834560
     learn1> (display (c-factorial 100))
     0
     learn1> (display (c-sin 1.5))
     0.997494986604054
     learn1> (display (v-t 10))
     requested length for vector: 10
     #(0.0 0.0 1.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0)
     learn1> (display (v-t 15))
     requested length for vector: 15
     #(0.0 0.0 1.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0)
     learn1> (quit)
     <shell-prompt>

  As you see, taking `(c-factorial 100)' does not use bignumbers and
returns a bogus answer.


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Further examples,  Prev: More interesting programming with libguile,  Up: Guile in a Library

4.5 Further examples
====================

Further "idealized" examples are included in the `doc/examples/c'
distribution.  They include programs to:

   * Parse a startup file (C is the master world).

   * Set up initial conditions for an n-body simulation (C is the master
     world).

   * Implement a Scheme interpreter with all of Guile's goodies, _plus_
     the readline library _and_ a fast Fourier transform routine
     provided in C (Scheme is the master world).


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Regular Expression Support,  Next: UNIX System Programming,  Prev: Guile in a Library,  Up: Top

5 Regular Expression Support
****************************


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: UNIX System Programming,  Next: Where to find more Guile/Scheme resources,  Prev: Regular Expression Support,  Up: Top

6 UNIX System Programming
*************************


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Where to find more Guile/Scheme resources,  Next: Concept Index,  Prev: UNIX System Programming,  Up: Top

7 Where to find more Guile/Scheme resources
*******************************************


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Concept Index,  Next: Procedure and Macro Index,  Prev: Where to find more Guile/Scheme resources,  Up: Top

Concept Index
*************

 [index ]
* Menu:

* Benson, Brent:                         What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line  57)
* bignumbers:                            Jump Start.          (line  30)
* Blandy, Jim:                           History of Guile and its motivations.
                                                              (line  48)
* Bourne shell:                          What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line  20)
* builtin functions:                     More interesting programming with libguile.
                                                              (line   6)
* callback:                              More interesting programming with libguile.
                                                              (line   6)
* case sensitivity:                      How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  18)
* cell-object:                           Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line 283)
* closures:                              Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line 216)
* Cygnus Support:                        History of Guile and its motivations.
                                                              (line  42)
* Dominion:                              What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line  49)
* Emacs Lisp:                            What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line  38)
* extending C programs:                  Guile in a Library.  (line   9)
* extension languages:                   What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line   6)
* extension languages - examples:        What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line  36)
* extensions to R5RS:                    How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  20)
* extensions to standard Scheme:         How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  20)
* Free Software Foundation:              History of Guile and its motivations.
                                                              (line  48)
* Galassi, Mark:                         Two world views.     (line  14)
* gh interface:                          What is libguile.    (line   6)
* GNU Data Language:                     Two world views.     (line  14)
* GNU project:                           History of Guile and its motivations.
                                                              (line  12)
* gnudl:                                 Two world views.     (line  14)
* hello world <1>:                       What is libguile.    (line  34)
* hello world:                           Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line  27)
* Jaffer, Aubrey:                        History of Guile and its motivations.
                                                              (line  28)
* large programs:                        What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line  77)
* learn0:                                How to get started with libguile.
                                                              (line   6)
* learn1:                                More interesting programming with libguile.
                                                              (line   6)
* libguile <1>:                          What is libguile.    (line   6)
* libguile:                              Guile in a Library.  (line   9)
* libguile - step by step:               What learn1 is doing.
                                                              (line  18)
* libscheme:                             What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line  57)
* lisp dialects:                         Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line  18)
* list processing:                       Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line 155)
* Lord, Tom:                             History of Guile and its motivations.
                                                              (line  28)
* Lotus 1-2-3:                           What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line  45)
* master world:                          Two world views.     (line   6)
* object-based programming:              Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line 363)
* object-oriented programming:           Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line 363)
* objects:                               Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line 215)
* POSIX:                                 How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  10)
* primitive procedures:                  What learn1 is doing.
                                                              (line   6)
* recursion:                             Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line 155)
* registering C functions:               What learn1 is doing.
                                                              (line   6)
* registering callbacks:                 What learn1 is doing.
                                                              (line   6)
* report on Scheme:                      How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  18)
* Revised(5) Report on the Algorithmic Language Scheme: How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  18)
* rx:                                    How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  10)
* Scheme extensions:                     How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  20)
* Scheme language - definition:          How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  18)
* Scheme language - report:              How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  18)
* Scheme programming tutorial:           Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line   6)
* scm interface:                         What is libguile.    (line   6)
* scripting languages:                   What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line   6)
* scripting languages - examples:        What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line  15)
* slib:                                  How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  10)
* Stallman, Richard:                     History of Guile and its motivations.
                                                              (line  12)
* syntactic closures:                    Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line 216)
* Tcl <1>:                               History of Guile and its motivations.
                                                              (line  12)
* Tcl:                                   What are scripting and extension languages.
                                                              (line  41)
* Tk:                                    How to characterize Guile.
                                                              (line  10)
* tutorial on Scheme programming:        Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line   6)


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Procedure and Macro Index,  Next: Variable Index,  Prev: Concept Index,  Up: Top

Procedure and Macro Index
*************************

This is an alphabetical list of all the procedures and macros in
Dominion.

 [index ]
* Menu:

* MAKE-CELL:                             Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line 283)
* represent-matrix:                      Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line 206)
* send:                                  Using Guile to program in Scheme.
                                                              (line 343)


File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Variable Index,  Next: Type Index,  Prev: Procedure and Macro Index,  Up: Top

Variable Index
**************

This is an alphabetical list of the major global variables in Dominion.

 [index ]
* Menu:

File: guile-tut.info,  Node: Type Index,  Prev: Variable Index,  Up: Top

Type Index
**********

This is an alphabetical list of the major data structures in Dominion.

 [index ]
* Menu:


Tag Table:
Node: Top221
Node: Jump Start1373
Node: Introduction4984
Node: What are scripting and extension languages5685
Node: History of Guile and its motivations9222
Node: How to characterize Guile11676
Node: Using Guile to program in Scheme13204
Ref: Using Guile to program in Scheme-Footnote-126036
Node: Guile in a Library26134
Node: Two world views26711
Node: What is libguile28715
Node: How to get started with libguile30699
Node: More interesting programming with libguile33539
Node: learn1.c34839
Node: c_builtins.h36293
Node: c_builtins.c36645
Node: What learn1 is doing38151
Node: Compiling and running learn140020
Node: Further examples41228
Node: Regular Expression Support41830
Node: UNIX System Programming42017
Node: Where to find more Guile/Scheme resources42221
Node: Concept Index42448
Node: Procedure and Macro Index51203
Node: Variable Index51911
Node: Type Index52145

End Tag Table
